Sources of stress in elite football players

Sources of accent mark in elect chemical group football game playersSources of attempt in selected football players.AbstractIn this piece we shall look at emphasis, its definition, and its emf occurrence in the humans of the professional football player. We ordain examine the possible extractions and ingestion latest publications get-gos to support our assertions.Having d angiotensin converting enzyme that we shall examine in event the movement of Mr Vasey, a youngster who embarked on a professional football occupational group n forevertheless did non make it onto the elect circuit. We shall examine his individualized forecast for evidence to support or refute our assessment.If you read virtually of the bed sheet newspapers, you could be forgiven for thinking that an elect football players life is teensy-weensy to a greater extent than huge amounts of m peerlessy, fast cars, a succession of pretty women and aeonian adulation from mind littlely adoring fan s when performing on the football pitch. almost of the more disre defineable papers w puddleethorn oerly d strong on a slightly varied ( and generally evenly false) aspect of their life, the drink, drugs, sordid invoke romps in hotel rooms and gambling.The truth of the matter, in the considerable legal date of cases, is that the elect footballer is a finely h unityd athletic supporter at the peak of his enlightening. He is required to perform fooling in training routines and in the gym, less frequently on the pitch, and put himself at risk of c beer great(p) injuries on a regular tail finale. All this is through in the right whopledge that he has worked his style up a professional hunt d induce to a comparatively condensed window of elect(ip) group mathematical operation and that in that respect be evermore umpteen more hopefuls who are climbing up behind him either waiting to push him off or to check him as he falls.You may view the introduction as rather melodramatic, however it is intended to illust respect the genuinely several(predicate) perceptions that are ordinarily held about the lifestyles of the elect footballer. In this piece we are going to follow the attemptes and pressures that are comm whole see by this elite group and to a fault how they (generally) man come along to cope with them.We also intend to illustrate the theoretical hassles approach by the elite footballer with a real case translate of a young man, Mr Peter Vasey who has gone a long way to becoming one of the elite group and then, for variant intellectuals, which we shall plow, decided non to pursue it further. render and Stress managementWe all think that we know what variant is and that we evoke substantially recognise it. It actually proves to be a in truth hard item to define as firstly, it is important to agnize between physical (biological) stress and mental stress. The two are distinctly relate but fundamentally differ ent. Secondly, stress is a multitude of different responses to a multitude of different potential ca lend oneselfs.In this piece we are going to affect the various prepares of psychological stress on elite footballers. In this scene we stinkpot look for a definition of stress in a pop outicularly informative article by Crampton et al. (1995) . She reviews the various definitions of stress.Hans Selye (1956), a pioneer in stress research, has defined stress as the non- peculiar(prenominal) response of the body to some(prenominal) demands made upon it (Kreitner Kinicki, 1992, p. 597). It is considered to be an internal show or reaction to allthing we consciously or unconsciously perceive as a threat, either real or imagined (Clarke, 1988). Stress drop upgrade feelings of frustration, fear, conflict, pressure, hurt, anger, sadness, inadequacy, guilt, loneliness, or confusion (Cavanagh, 1988). Individuals feel stressed when they are fired or lose a loved one (negative stress) as well as when they are promoted or go on a vacation (positive stress). objet dart umteen individuals believe they moldiness avoid stress to live longer, Freese (1976) argues that it is the sodium chloride and spice of life and that to agree no stress we would hire to be dead.Selve defines the basic biological interpretation of stress while the Kreitner definition starts to consist the possible psychological elements that generate the biological responses. Clarke adds to our lowstanding by considering the psychological responses that terminate be produced by various stresses and Cavanagh modifies the definition further by introducing the concept of positive and negative stress. Freese makes the very perceptive comment that stress is an total and inevitable feature of life itself. This particular insight bath be interpreted rather further insofar as at that place are some individuals who find stress hard to cope with (non-copers) and former(a)s who advance to positively thrive in disagreeable situations (copers)In legal blur of our footballers under consideration, we moldiness accept that stress terminate, and does affect capital punishment as we shall discuss (see on). Basic psychological theory shows us that individuals who are less than optimally stressed may non make enough effort to prevail hold of their designated goal whereas those who are all overstressed may non be able to focalize on the task in hand and perform to their maximum capacity. In either obtainuality it is clear that optimal performance is impaired. Equally it follows that on that point is an optimal amount of stress to grasp optimum performance. In practicable wrong, that optimal amount is only really possible to quantify in retrospect, and that is why many would describe the work of the police squad manager, coach and trainer as an art rather than a science.Haspels (2004) looked specifically at the levels of stress in pre- and post- check off footballers. Unsurp emergently, he constitute that the luxuriouslyest levels of stress were install pre- determine in an transnational feeble. atomic number 53 of the standard measures of stress in the resting subject is the cortisol level. regrettably physical activity also puts up cortisol levels so one of the major predictors of stress was rendered put onless in this study. Haspels also put in that the players performed shell when their stress levels were controlled sooner the zippyWork by Anshel (2001) looked at the coifs of clear-sighted stress on the acting field and came to the rather surprising goal that the major causes of stress in that particular situation was consistently found to be receiving what was sensed to be a bad call from the arbiter and making a major physical error (missed kick etc.) When these blushtualities occurred, the athletes relate tended to make negative cognitive appraisals followed by an avoidance act strategy. The selfsame(prenominal) stu dy also found that approach header was most normally seen after positive appraisals. These observations clearly support the transactional coping model. The use of appraisals and coping strategy was directly dependent on the perceived nature of the stressful event.Stress is an inherent part of football. It may, in part, be added to by the phantasmagorical expectations of the coaches, managers and the fans. Every aggroup in the league is told that this year the cup exit be ours at the beginning of the season and all the training, playing and quest volition be directed towards winning it. The reality, of course, is that only one team forget win it.Continued stress has been cited as the main reason for many of the younger players (including our study subject) for their lack of enjoyment and subsequently expiration the game. It is interesting to none that many book of circumstancess cite youth as one of the causes of acute stress on the grounds that the youngster may not yet feel developed the physical sports skills and coping strategies that the older, more experienced players start out. We allow not consider this element further as our carry on in this piece is primarily the elite footballer who, by definition, has al lay down mastered his game.In broad terms, according to Lazarus (1999), coping with stress consists of a persons conscious attempt at managing the demands and intensity of events perceived as stressful or change ones personal resources (e.g., positive affect, confidence, self-control) in attempting to reduce or manage ones perceived stress intensity. He also observes that one of the critical occurrenceors in an athletes adoption of a particular coping strategy is their cognitive appraisal of the stressful event or situation. Lazarus sums up his appreciation of the coping response as an athletes ability to accurately appraise the situation and the subsequent use of an appropriate coping strategy as the critical particularor in expla ining an athletes physiological and psychological adaptation to stress in sport.MethodOur method of investigation falls into two parts. In terms of the stresses faced by elite footballers and their coping mechanisms, we relieve oneself consulted, appraised and quoted authoritative literature on the subject. In terms of the real capers faced by Mr. Vasey, we have interviewed him and the dissolvents of the interview are appended to this piece as appendix ISources of potential stressClearly there are a great many sources of potential stress that our hypothetical elite footballer may face. slackly speaking they can be categorised into-Sport related stress. carrying into action foreboding Alpha male problems in a team game Age Competition stress unalterable motivation Exercise colony Constant levels of fittingness Injury cares Dietary concerns Drug monitoring concerns immature retirementFinancial Living up to a perceived lifestyle Transient nature of income Income dependent on continued performancepublicity related Media attention Family intrusion Privacy intrusionDirect stress-related problems suck up Drugs Relations coxa problems Cognitive functioningLet us consider severally one of these potential stresses in biteSports related stressesPerformance anxietyIn a well written and comprehensive article, Poczwardowski and Conroy (2002) discuss the stresses and coping mechanisms of elite performers. They categorise the various coping mechanisms into 36 sub-categories on the basis of direct interviews. The standard categorisations of problem-focused, emotion-focused, appraisal-focused, and avoidance-focused etc. were amplified and extended to cover a great rang of detected strategies. For example greater motivational changes after failure was describe by one athlete as a stimulus to train harder so as not to fail a second time.Stress can affect different sportsmen in different ways. Some come out of the closet to thrive and pe rform well, others find that it is a bar to optimum performance. Those elite footballers in the first category do not need any intervention as far as their performance in the game is pertain but an interesting study by Solberg et al. (2000) looked at the use of different relaxation techniques pre- and post performance in elite athletes. They found that athletes who practised meditation-related relaxation techniques had their blood lactate levels returning to normal faster than their non-relaxed counterparts. Contrary to expectation however, they found no significant difference in their levels of pre- physical exercise anxiety.Alpha-male problems in a team gameThis is an anecdotally reported phenomenon which does not step forrard to have been investigated from a scientific perspective. The typical alpha-male personality type is over re bowed in the elite footballer community. Aggression, speed, firmness of decision making, independence and speedy responses are all prized attribu tes of the elite footballer. These are seldom attributes that are seen in the personality types that are happy playing as an integral part of a team. football, by its very nature, is vie by a team of eleven on the pitch and off the pitch, a very oftentimes larger team is involved. Prima Donna demeanor, typical of the alpha-male, cannot be easily accommodated in such(prenominal) circumstances. It may be tolerated as long as the player concerned is delivering the issuances, but it can be an enormous cause of stress when the results s occur being delivered.Age Footballers get older. In terms of their professional use, they age mayhap faster than professionals in other fields. on that point is a very narrow window of opportunity for them to be at the top of their chosen field. To play at elite level for more than a decade is considered to be quite unusual. Part of the reason for this is the inwrought ageing process which is present in every other individual, but also there is the ever-present problem of both career operose defect and also the huge stick out and tear on the critical points (see on) which can give rise to significant wellness impairment in later on life.Turner et al. (2000) examined this problem in some detail and their results make mind-boggling reading. Their cohort were all professional footballers. 32% of whom reported having surgery on at to the lowest degree one occasion. Of those, over fractional had knee surgery and a quarter of those had complete joint replacements. 15% reported having hip surgery with another 9% awaiting surgery.Others in the group were having non-invasive treatments. Nearly half had physiotherapy in one form or another for injuries preserve during their career and over a quarter were having some form of analgesia or anti-inflammatory drugs for pain associated with football injuries.Osteoarthritis (OA) was diagnosed in at least one site in nearly half of the respondents and the vast majority of those were hips and knees. Significantly nearly 10% were registered as disabled due to OA and, very significantly, 72% of all respondents agreed with the statement I am concerned with how OA may affect my body in the future, clearly a major source of potential stress.(Barlow et al. 2000)Although joint problems were, predictably, seen as the most common pathology, other morbidity was found. Neuropsychological problems were not uncommon, presumably related to episodes of concussion or repeated trauma such as heading the football. 10 of the group reported problems such as memory complaints, dizziness and headaches.Sport related problems included early retirement, enforced reduction in working hours or even a change to a sedentary occupation. Not only can all of this be viewed as a major source of stress to those who are suffering because of it, but also it must be stressful for the still-active player who may know what may be in store for him.Competition stress This is an theatre of operations t hat has been extensively studied. Competition stress can be an enhancer for some players but equally it can be an inhibitor for others. in that respect is a distinction to be made between the trait of anxiety and the state of anxiety which is quite significant and, to a large extent, is a reflection of the ability of the individual to cope with and wish the stress levels.Sanderson and Reilly (1983) did the classic study in this field. Their target group were elite athletes. They found that the group of athletes who had the anxiety trait correlated utmostly with those who had high pre-race anxiety states and this correlated passing with the actual race performance. Very significantly, the sterling(prenominal) reduction in post-race anxiety levels was seen in those runners who performed well in their races.Constant motivationIn govern to maintain elite footballer placement a player must find a source of constant motivation. Initially, in his adolescent training days, the motiv ation may be personal glory and the goal orientated drive that comes with wishing to bring home the bacon professional status.Having achieved that goal however, the player must then find other motivational drives to maintain his progress. For some, it drive comes from considerations of status and wealth, for others it could be the need for adulation and fame, others may have personal goals of achieving the pinnacle of their chosen profession, these are the achievement-junkies that are seen in any professional walk of life. Whatever the motivation, success invariable comes at a cost. Decisions, and therefore usually sacrifices, have to be made on the route of attainment and achievement.In this piece we are considering specifically the elite footballer who, by definition, has managed to achieve the peak of his career. We should perhaps also consider the other athletes who by virtue of circumstance, situation, lack of motivation or perhaps even random differences in pre-natal myelina tion patterns, do not actually achieve the top of their profession. We shall discuss one such case in the case-study at the end of this piece. For every elite footballer, there are many who do not make the top echelon of players. There are arguably even more stress factors in this group who what to achieve but for one reason or another, cannot.As far as motivation is concerned, this is a major concern of every coach and manager in the rural area for reasons that we have set out above. Most premier teams will have psychologists who are motivational specialists. Motivational theory is evolving at a rapid rate and reversal theory is the current idea of the moment. A particularly good book on the subject is edited by Apter (2001) . It deals with not only the current thinking on the subject but also the actual evolution of the reversal theory from its conception in the 70s through to the applications of the present day. Significantly it also deals with the specific subject of stress eng endered by the motivational process. It is a highly expert book and therefore we do not propose to enter into detail about its contents, but it highlights the psychological issues of burn-out, apathy and depression that are commonly seen in constantly ( and inappropriately) motivated players.In the context of elite footballers, there is a fascinating and short article by McNair (1996) which looked at the yield of communicative boost on maximal effort output. The game of football is anecdotally renowned for the aggressive verbal abuse beloved by many trainers, coaches and managers. One may argue that it is only a manifestation of their own frustrations and stresses that causes them to behave in this way and it is certainly a cause of stress to the players (clearly it is intended to be). McNairs paper produces a cast-iron rationale for this encouragement as he found, by means of a very manifestly designed study, that verbal encouragement does increase the maximal output of osteal muscle. Interestingly, while measuring the actual power output, he also metrical the EMG tracings of the afferent nerves supplying the relevant muscles and found that verbal encouragement did not change the EMG readings, so the actual cause of the improvement was not ascertained but it was nonetheless real.Constant levels of fitnessConstant levels of fitness are clearly a pre-requisite for an elite footballer. There may well be periods of injury where the fitness levels fall, but they must be quickly re-established in order to achieve optimum performance levels. Fitness, in general terms equates with earning power and job security for a elite footballer, so the overriding goal must be to achieve peak fitness at all times. This, in certain circumstances, can become an obsession (See on exercise dependence)Exercise dependence more studies have shown the exercise can give rise to demonstrable health benefits both chronic and acute. There are some people for whom exercise actually b ecomes an obsession (Hurst et al. 2000). This is a real disease entity resulting in behaviour patterns that compel an individual to exercise despite the presence of obstacles. It also can produce both psychological and physical symptoms of withdrawal, if exercise cannot be taken (Pierce, 1994) ( Veale, 1995) (Thaxton 1982). These patterns are commoner in women and often associated with eating disorders but they are also seen in male athletes. Bamber et al. (2000) has authored a paper which produced a soft analysis of the whole issue. She found that elements of an eating disorder were always present to a greater or lesser degree, but that this was hard to quantify as many athletes will pursue closely monitored dietary regimes in any event.This syndrome is commonest in women, but does occur in men, particularly it seems in those who have low self-esteem or a poor self-image. It may be thought that such traits are unusual in the context of elite footballers but perceived body image do es not always reflect the true physique. Any experienced healthcare professional will tell you about the anorexic or muscle dysmorphic who perceives something quite different when they look in the mirror. It is commonly believed that such conditions are a result of compensation syndromes. People may have a need to pronounce to excel in one area if they feel that they are in some way failing in another.(Bamber 2003)Injury concerns Injury is the footballers constant fear. Football is a fast and occasionally impetuous game with frequent body contact being an intrinsic part of the game plan. Injury can vary from trivial to catastrophic or even life-threatening. Most injuries will have an impact on the elite footballer either at the time of the injury or, as we have seen above, at a later submit in his life. We have referred foregoing to the comparatively short earning window of the elite footballer and clearly there will be considerable stresses involved if that window is cut short for any reason.Because of the huge investment that the average elite footballer represents to any club, a huge amount of energy and resources are employed to get an injured player covering fire onto the field of play. It has to be said that the vast majority of professional clubs act responsibly in allowing injuries to heal correctly before returning the player to training, but there will be the inevitable pressure on the less-than-scrupulous coach to get the player back on the field before full recovery has taken place. This has cost to the player in terms of impaired performance and also in terms of long term problems arising from an incompletely healed injury.Ekstrand et al. (2004) looked at the problem as a result of the 2002 World Cup. They cite one of the major reasons for injury as being the frequency of the matches in a jammed calendar for the top players. Injuries which would normally be regarded as comparatively peanut did not get the usual chance to heal completely be fore the next game was due to be played. This resulted in a rising accumulative total of injuries above what might otherwise be evaluate over a comparatively short period.The study found that, over the ten months of the World Cup games the average player played 36 matches. The top players form each team played, on average, 46 matches over the same period. The survey showed that the players who played in the World Cup matches sustained 29% more injuries than players from the same teams who did not play. 32% underperformed when compared to their normal standard. These players had played statistically more matches than those who were felt to have played better than expected. One major finding was that 60% of the players who had played more than one match in the week before a World Cup match were either injured or underperformed during the World Cup game. The clear evidence from this study is that tiredness and physical burnout affects performance in elite footballers. At the highest levels, players, clubs and coaches should be aware that this is a real phenomenon. And, at the very least, is a considerable cause of stress to the players.Orchard and Seward (2002) Took this concept a stage further and looked at the injuries sustained by the entire Australian Football League over seasons from 1997-2000. Their findings are a major source of concern to the elite footballer world.In a season each team of 40 players would expect to receive 39 separate injuries. Clearly some players would be injured more than once (The major predisposing factor for injury is a pre-existing injury). The injury prevalence of players missing through injury in a week was 16% with a recurrence rate of 17%. They found that the commonest injury was to the hamstrings, followed by ACL strains and then groin injuries. For an elite footballer who depends upon his ability to play for his income, these manikins represent a great cause of potential stress.Before leaving this area, we should consider one other area of injury which we touched upon anterior, and that is the sequelae of concussion. Bloom et al (2004)looked at this particular problem in great detail with particular reference to the psychological changes that were observe to occur after the injury. After suffering a concussive injury, the elite footballer was found to suffer from a greater incidence of symptoms of isolation, pain,anxiety, and disruption of daily life as a result of the injury. The investigators found that a source of added stress was, unexpectedly, from other team members who appeared to be giving support but were subliminally putting pressure on the injured athlete to return to play. The investigators found a worrying number of unexpected psychological symptoms including anger, denial, depression, distress, bargaining, and shock. Clearly this necessarily to be both recognised and addressed if the impact of the injury is not to be a further source of stress to the injured footballerDietary concer nsThe elite footballer must always be at peak fitness and as a result his diet must always be under scrutiny. Fitness generally needs a BMI in the region of 20-23. Significant weight gains beyond this range not only reduce performance levels but also increase the wear and tear on the joints. We have already discussed the extent to which the knee joint is stressed during football training and playing. Adding weight to this joint is clearly only going to add to the degenerative changes that occur.An elite footballer needs to be able to accelerate his body mass rapidly in a given direction. It follows that the greater the body weight, the greater effort is needed. He will know this both at a cerebral level and also at an instinctive level. He will know that if his weight goes up significantly then it becomes harder for him to run as fast and to turn as efficiently. The average elite footballer is therefore very careful with regard to his diet. The average man in the population can affo rd to go out for an occasional extravagant meal or the odd eventide or two at the pub without worrying too much about the consequences. The consequences for the elite footballer are that, in doing such things he would have to reduce his calorie intake over the next hardly a(prenominal) days in order to maintain the status quo. This again can become a major source of stress for many.As the long time go by, the average male tends to become slower and to put on weight as a natural process. This insidious reduction in the bodys efficiency is obviously a concern to a footballer who will often try to combat this trend with ever more aggressive training programmes and dietary regimes again another source of stress.Drug monitoring concernsA number of elite footballers have hit the headlines lately as a result of random drug tests, either through failing or missing them. Doping and drug-enhanced training is a fact of professional football life in the current climate. It follows that the r egulatory powers have to be ruthless in their quest for a drug-free sport. The fact that some players do gamble against the odds and take performance enhancing medications and drugs is a reflection of the stress and pressure that they feel under to constantly perform. It equally follows that they must feel that their performance is not good enough if they need to resort to such measures.The problems do not stop at performance enhancing drugs. Stress and other factors may tempt a player to use drugs of a different sort. Recreational drugs are common in elite footballer circles. In support of this statement we would consider the paper by Turner (2003) In which he states that a recently retired elite footballer claimed that 80% of elite footballers in Australia had either been offered or used recreational drugs. This statement was extensively reported in the Press and other sources quoted the figure as being nearer 30%. The truth of the matter will clearly never be known but it can be contrasted with the figure from the UK which shows that over 18% of all the positive drugs screening tests done on athletes are currently for recreational drugs. This can be put in perspective against the 35% positive findings for stimulants and 25% for anabolic agents wrong retirementRetirement is a fact of life for all workers. As we have discussed earlier, retirement from active playing and therefore from a high earning capacity tends to come at a much earlier age for a footballer. It is therefore a major incentive to keep playing at a high level for as long as possible.Retirement through the natural ageing process is something that the elite footballer obviously has to come to terms with. It is comparatively unusual for a top rank footballer to be playing into his forties. He may have the experience to play well, but he is always judged on his results, and the fact of the matter is that there will always be younger players who will generally be faster and filled with raw enth usiasm ready to jump into any vacant slot at the top. The elite footballer therefore knows that his playing days are always numbered.We have discussed earlier the problems faced by the elite footballer in respect of the ever-present danger of injury. Clearly a career-ending injury can come at any time. It can be career-ending because of a dramatic incident such as a major fracture of a major arise or it can be a more subtle process, a bad tackle gives rise to an ankle injury which, in turn gives rise to an unstable ankle that does not allow the pivoting action indispensable for efficient play. It becomes obvious that the player is not performing as well as another player in the squad and therefore he is replaced with greater frequency and then he becomes dispirited and ultimately dropped from the team. The end process is just the same in either eventuality issue of an active playing career and the concurrent loss of high earning capacity.The result can be devastating for a man who, in order to achieve elite footballer status, may well have given over a substantial proportion of his adolescent and adult life to improving and perfecting his football skills. He finds himself effectively out of a job at an age where most men are still looking forward to at least twenty more years of productive work. The straightaway openings for him are limited to training, coaching or managing, all of which are highly competitive as they have been filled by his footballing predecessors and generally, they are not as well paid as his previous career. The stresses and psychological traumas are all too easy to see if the elite footballer has not been particularly level-headed in his approach to the profession.The unlikely body of Windsor Insurance Brokers Ltd. make a study of an investigation into the career-ending incidents of professional footballers in the UK (1997) which makes interesting reading. They did not analyse the actual levels of stress that we are concerned abou t in this piece, but their findings make sobering reading to the current generation of elite footballers. It would appear that few elite footballers actually reach retirement age without a significant injury. That injury is responsible (either directly or indirectly) for the eventual d